Truth Will Out (The Short Story)
by Nicole732
Summary: When an old enemy threatens to out Nicole's new home's secrets and a new enemy threatens to destroy the place she calls home, Camp Half Blood will see if she can ditch her old ways of a socialite and delay an attack against the camp by doing the unthinkable. Mixing her two different lives. All the while a huge quest is in play that everyone's survival relies on. *Image Lily Collins
1. An Uninvited Guest - XOXO Gossip Girl

****All idea's belong to the Gossip Girl and Percy Jackson Franchise's****  
**** When a '*' is on either side of the paragraph, it is a Gossip Girl blast that includes Nicole, and is posted sometime during the chapter (there are other blast's, but you will only see the ones that involve Nicole)****  
****Nicole isn't me, I only used my name, we have no other relations****

**Truth Will Out**  
**By Nicole**

*Brainy and beautiful don't usually come in the same package, but thats what we see when we look at upperclass, fairfaced Nicole Theikos being accepted to the most advanced summer program in all of America. You know you love me, XOXO Gossip Girl*

*My many minions have been scouring the city for hours in search of the hot topic, Nicole Theikos and Zachary Archibald's love life. Got to love 'em. You know you love me, XOXO Gossip Girl*

This story sounds a lot like the regular bratty and rich sixteen year old.. Well I won't finish that sentence because that is not what this story is about. In fact, it is not even a story, it is more like a hidden truth. Nicole Theikos was a brainy and beautiful 16 year old, living on the Upper East Side of New York City, pretty regular, eh? That was not what this was though, not at all.  
What no one, not even the infamous Gossip Girl, knew about Nicole's life was her fathers previous love life. He'd gone to Yale and brought Nicole home with him, to disapproving parents and a very different life then most children like her. When I say 'children like her,' I mean demi-gods, yes she is a demi-god. Where else would Athena be then an ivy league school, and who else to catch her eye then the most eligible and educated bachelor in New York, Nathaniel Theikos.  
Of course Nicole and her grandparents knew nothing of her most unusual background. After all, how would Nicole know? She was kept in a box, her grandparents watching her every step to make sure she never stumbled in front of a camera. That was the life of a Social-lite after all. Nicole was an it girl, she had sparkle, beauty, money and even a little magic. Gossip Girl had a tracker on her 24/7, her life was nothing near private.  
Nicole lay in her bed, silk pajamas wrapped around her body as she slept the last peaceful sleep she would have in a while. Her room was large and most definitely expensive, with a closet full of designer shoes, clothes and handbags. On her bedside table there was a glass of orange juice, a bagel and a bowl of freshly cut fruits.  
A knock on her door woke her from her blissful sleep, Nicole's eyes fluttered open and her body turned to the clock. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw the time, she only had half an hour till she left for school. She was out of bed, dancing around the room pulling her pajama's off and a uniform skirt on, bagel in hand.  
Finally, breakfast eaten, groomed to perfection and changed, she was on the street. Nicole's heels clicked as she walked down the street, having decided to walk to school today. Her brown hair floated in the wind perfectly, her grey eyes filled with thoughts of homework asignments, latest gossip and what she was going to wear next week at the charity event.  
As Nicole reached the front of the school it was evident she was well known, eyes followed her and a group of girls dressed to perfection immediately surrounded her like the faithful minions they were. She smiled at them, her white teeth flashing in the sun, and the girls began to talk.  
"So, Nicole are we going to that secret woods party tonight?" one blonde asked.  
"I hadn't thought about it, has anyone ever been to a woods party?" Nicole asked addressing three girls in particular, obviously the partiers. They all shook their heads, looking a bit frightful of what her reaction would be to that.  
"Well, I suppose we'll go then. If no one was talking about this party, they will be now," Nicole giggled a bit at her comment. All the girls in the group laughed as well, one younger brunette being a bit late. A few of them glared at her for a moment, she was obviously knew to the group. The bell rang and all the girls dispersed, a few following Nicole like little puppy dogs.  
*********  
School had come and gone, Nicole was in her bedroom with her usual crowd as they all decided what would be appropriate to wear to a woods party. Everyone was quite dumbfounded because no one had ever gone to one. It was finally agreed upon that they'd wear designer shorts, any top that matched and a nice pair of boots.  
Everyone had gone home to change when Nicole came to the kitchen to find her father reading the newspaper. Nathanial looked up and saw what Nicole was wearing and a surprised look crossed his face.  
"Erm, Nicole... Where are you going?" Nathanial asked carefully, knowing teens can be quite temperamental.  
"Out, love you," was Nicole's short reply.  
45 minutes later Nicole found herself surrounded by her minions, all dressed very similar, in front of a very unfamiliar woods house. At this point, most of them were starting to regret their decision. As soon as Zach Archibald and a few of his buddies came to greet them that changed, the girls became flirty and entered the woods, accepting the drinks they were being handed.  
"Glad you could make it," Zach said, approaching Nicole.  
"Debatable on whether I'm glad to be here," Nicole said, looking around a bit surprised at where Zach had invited them.  
"Don't worry about it, you'll have a blast," he replied to her tone happily.  
"We'll see," she said with a small smile.  
A few hours later, the forest was darkening and some of the party guests were starting to understanding the advantage of a woods party. What happens next was the start of a very different life for Nicole. There was a noise, and everyone turned in that direction, faces pale in the moonlight.  
It is very debatable as to what everyone else was seeing, so I will just explain what Nicole saw. At first it was the head of a creature she was unable to recognize, but she noticed many more, popping up in all directions. Her eyes were widening, as were everyone else, but for very different reasons.  
The first scream set everything off, everyone was running and no one was by Nicole's side now. She stood, transfixed by the creature, everyone else running for their cars in fright of whatever they saw. Zach was pulling at her arm, trying to tear her eyes away from the creature (which happened to be a Hydra). At this point, they were basically the only ones left, everyone else scattering into random cars with people they may not have even known and clearing the scene.  
The Hydra was coming much too close for comfort and Nicole was still not moving, although her mind couldn't process what she saw, her body could. Full battle reflexes kicked in, but she was uneducated on the creature, and only made it worse. Plus, she didn't even have a weapon, mostly it was just hitting with a branch like a sword and dodging fire attacks.  
Nicole could tell she was fighting a losing battle, so she dropped her branch to find herself completely alone and stranded. Then she did all she could, she ran for a straight hour, non-stop. Luckily she was a strong runner, otherwise she most likely would have died. Her feet were soar from the pavement, because she'd thrown her shoes off ten minutes into the run. She stopped, leaning over to catch her breath, cell phone in hand.  
*********  
"What on earth were you thinking, going to a woods party?" Nathanial said in a very serious tone.  
"I guess I wasn't thinking, but that doesn't change the fact that I saw something! I texted Britt and she said she saw a bear, that was most definitely not a bear," Nicole was hysterical. She sat in her pajamas, having showered so she wasn't so sweaty and dirty.  
"Nicole..." Nathanial had a strange look on his face, he wasn't stern anymore, almost perplexed by what she had said.  
"Yes?" Nicole answered, a little angry with her father for not catching on to the fact that she'd seen a blood thirsty monster.  
"She warned me.. I should have listened to her," Nathanial was mostly speaking to himself.  
"Who warned you and about what? Dad!" she was a little fed up of him ignoring her in such a traumatic moment.  
"Your mother, Nicole, your mother is.. A goddess, Athena in fact," he had a very gentle face on now.  
"The Greek Goddess, Athena?" Nicole asked. Her father nodded his head very solemnly.  
"Sorry, are you OUT OF YOUR MIND?" she yelled the last part, very frustrated with her father.  
"No, Nicole. I am not out of my mind, I met her at Yale, in the Library of course," a faint smile crossed Nathaniel's lips at the memory. Nicole was looking at her dad with a concerned face.  
"Maybe we should call Grandmother, she'll help us.. Do you have a medical condition? Wait! Do I have a medical condition too?" the hysteria was entering her voice again.  
"Nicole, I am telling the truth. You'll just have to believe me," Nathanial had a very calm look on his face now.  
"I... I do believe you, what now?" Nicole could see in her fathers eyes and hear it in his voice, he was telling the truth.  
"You need to pack your bags. I am going to take you to a special camp for children like you, for demi-gods or more commonly known, half-bloods."


	2. She's Not One of You - XOXO Gossip Girl

*Looks like Nicole Theikos has named herself Queen N, who doesn't need saving. If my sources are correct, a bear decided to attend the same woods party as her and she didn't back down. Or maybe she was just frozen with fear.. You know you love me, XOXO Gossip Girl*

*This just in, my minions caught a pic of none other than Queen N, the one and only, leaving town. Who scared her off, was it the recent breakup with Zachary Archibald or is there hidden reason even worse then an embarrassing break up? Uh oh N, got a problem that needs fixing? Start searching kitties! You know you love me, XOXO Gossip Girl*

It seems like Gossip Girl was also in search of the same answers as Nicole, but for once in Nicole's life in the spotlight, it was actually critical on whether or not she found out. She was leaning against the limo door, watching country pass by in a blur of green. Finally they approached a farm with beautiful strawberry fields and on top of a hill was a large pine tree. The tree had gold string or something glittering in the branches of it.  
Nicole didn't really know if her dad was crazy or telling the truth, but she decided to believe him. This meant that she packed her Dior luggage set with basically all the clothes she owned (it was a big luggage set that had a separate suitcase for shoes) and watched it be put into the trunk of a limo. She was leaving more than half way through the school year, which must have seemed weird, but her dad had to made many different arrangements for it to happen. All the while she was quite aware of the many people snapping pictures with their phones. This most likely meant that Gossip Girl would be very aware to the fact that Nicole was leaving the city with a lot more luggage than for just a week.  
At the moment Gossip Girl was really the least of Nicole's worries, new messages from a dozen different people kept popping up on her phone. She had no idea to reply to any of them. What was she supposed to say, "Turns out i'm a demi-god, might never see you again, bye!" Finally, she decided on texting everyone the exact same thing, "Got my acceptance to that summer program late for some reason, leaving right now, won't be back till, well maybe never. XOXO N."  
"Mr. Theikos, we're here," was heard from the driver at they pulled up the hill. Nicole's door opened and the sunlight splashed in, she pulled her Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses over her eyes. The driver was unloading all her luggage from the limo, leaving it in front of the tree Nicole was examining.  
"Dad, what is this place?" Nicole wondered aloud, her eyes still on the glittering gold in the tree. Her dad moved towards her with a sad smile on his face that she didn't quite understand.  
"Well, I must be going, can't be late for that meeting," Nathanial said softly.  
"You're leaving? How am I going to carry all this luggage down the hill?" Nicole asked with a touch of brat in her voice. Nathanial just gave her one last smile and hugged her for the last time in a while. She felt like crying for some reason, and could barely control her emotions.  
"Bye Nicole, be good," he said as happily as he could muster.  
"B-bye dad..."  
*********  
Nicole was wearing jean shorts, a bright pink tank top and sandals that showcased her perfectly pedicured feet. She had no idea on how she was going to carry all of this luggage, so she decided on just grabbing the bag on top that held her cell phone and other essentials.  
She began to make her way down to the farm house, seeing a vollyball court on the way, where people were playing an intense game. Nicole noticed a few very peculiar things, such as the furry goat-men known as satyr's, or the fact that everyone carried weapons like it was nothing.  
Finally reaching the the farm house, at which point Nicole was quite overwhelmed with the whole situation. Everyone was giving her strange looks and a crowd of people had come over to her to obsess over her bag for five minutes. They all kept saying, "She must be one of us." Things were just getting stranger and stranger, and with that, Nicole was starting to wish she was more of a chameleon rather then a star.  
Sitting on the porch was a middle aged man in a wheel chair, he had a scruffy beard and bushy eyebrows. He must of been expecting Nicole, because he smiled towards her and waited for her to come onto the porch. She gave a weak smile back, thinking of her father's expression, as if he might never see her again.  
"Why hello, I am Chiron, Director of Camp Activities," he said calmly.  
"Hello, I am Nicole Theikos, new camper I suppose," Nicole replied with complete etiquette that only a social-lite would have mastered.  
"Welcome to Camp Half Blood, I trust your father explained all about it to you," Nicole nodded her head, still digesting what this hidden camp really was.  
"He also told me who my mother was.." Nicole found this to be a very touchy subject still.  
"Yes, and who may that be, Aphrodite perhaps?" Chiron asked politely.  
"Um, no.. Athena actually." The look on his face was utterly perplexed by her answer, but he quickly changed that to a smile.  
"Well, that is wonderful, I think we will wait till you're claimed to move you into the cabin. That's merely a formality though."  
"Alright, and also.." Nicole had no idea how to say this politely, "I have some bags at the top of the hill, there's a lot of them. I was just curious on how to get them to my cabin?"  
Chiron paused for a moment, then said, "I'll have some campers move them to the Hermes cabin."  
*********  
Nicole was sitting on the steps of the porch, Chiron had told her to wait there for a guide to show her around camp. She was sliding through Gossip Girl blast's on her phone, having just read the latest one about her. Gossip Girl had one thing right, she really did have a problem.  
"You know, you aren't supposed to have phones at camp," Nicole looked up to see a boy around her age standing a few feet away. He had been so quiet, she hadn't even notice him come up. She immediately noticed that he was quite good looking, he had dirty blonde hair that was almost brown, big hazel eyes, and a perfect tan.  
"Oh.." Nicole's voice trailed away, what was she going to do if she wasn't allowed a phone?  
"Don't worry about it, I won't tell," he said with a small smirk. Nicole started to get off the step, pushing her phone back into her handbag.  
"I'm Nicole Theikos, as you can probably tell, I'm knew to Camp Half-blood." She was giving him a flirty smile, thinking that if she had to be here it might as well be worth her while.  
"I'm Slate Pierce, son of Aphrodite, and your tour guide," he said, hands in pockets, gaze on Nicole. She'd been hoping he was her tour guide, but something was bothering her a bit. Wasn't she sort of related to him?  
Slate started walking past the vollyball court, Nicole following as he explained to her what everything was and what you did there. They passed an Arts and Crafts center, where she was pretty sure they created a lot more than art. Next a lake, that was beside the Amphitheater, lastly came the Climbing Wall which happened to include fire. The whole time they had been walking along a river, which Slate had told her was called Euros Creek.  
"And this is Fireworks Beach," Slate said as they turned to get to the other side of the creek. The sun was coming closer and closer to the water, getting ready to drop and let the moon come out. They continued down on the other side of the river, passing a Mess Hall and coming up to the Cabins. Nicole did a full circle to see all of them, they were oddly decorated and quite different looking, very few looked like actual cabins.  
"That is the forest, we play camp games such as Capture the Flag in there," Slate said as they were faced with the forest. They were coming up to a building, that he had explained to Nicole as the Arena, where they trained. She had no idea what kind of training he was referring to until they came up to the Armory, which was filled with real weapons. That she was expected to use, what a joke.  
"You don't have to choose right now, i'll take you back here tomorrow and you can give it a go then," Slate could see that she was very overwhelmed with what she was being shown. He could totally relate to how she felt, and Nicole was grateful for someone willing to slow down this experience.  
"Is that a flying horse?" Nicole's eyes were wide as she stared at the horse in the stables, that had wings.  
"A pegasus to be exact," was his reply, "Want to meet him?"  
"That sounds great," Nicole said as they walked towards the creature. Slate stopped in front and picked up a sugar cube from a box. The pegasus ate it in one lick, and looked at Nicole expectantly. She did the same as Slate and smiled as it ate the cube. They left the stables, passing the Strawberry Fields before heading back down to the Mess Hall.  
When they got to the Mess Hall, Slate went to sit with the Aphrodite kids. Nicole noticed that a few tables had no Campers at all, she knew that Hera and Artemis didn't have mortal children, but Slate had said that most cabins had at least one camper. She started across the hall to the Hermes table, she felt eyes on her, but not in the usual way. As she sat down she could hear one table saying, "She must be one of us," probably the Aphrodite table.  
"Hello, I'm Connor Stoll," said a boy sitting across from her.  
"And I'm Travis Stoll," said the one beside him.  
"And we're your Cabin Counselors," they said together.  
"Oh, hi... I'm Nicole Theikos." Everyone around the table welcomed her, but she couldn't help but notice that they all seemed to agree with the Aphrodite table. Everyone started saying things to their glasses and plates, which Nicole thought was odd until she saw food appearing on their plates and liquid into their glasses.  
"Root Beer," she said, following everyone else's lead, to her cup. All of the sudden the cup filled with a dark and bubbly liquid. Her eyes widened slightly as it happened.  
"Spaghetti," Nicole said addressing her plate this time. As it popped out of nowhere she was less surprised, but still very impressed. She noticed everyone getting up, and pouring a portion of their food into a fire and muttering a prayer. Although she didn't quite understand what they were doing she got up and poured a bit of her pasta into the fire.  
"Erm.. For the Gods," she mumbled awkwardly. Just as she was about to sit back down, everyone turned to her. Nicole looked over her head and noticed a glowing owl hanging over her. She jumped a little as she saw it, but calmed down quickly, thinking that maybe this is what Chiron was referring to when he said 'claiming.' Was she being claimed? Everyone kneeled to her, which Nicole found very strange.  
"Nicole Theikos, daughter of Athena," Chiron announced to the campers.


	3. Drew Finds The Queen - XOXO Gossip Girl

*This just in, Nicole Theikos has gotten early acceptance to some brains program. Is that really all there is to this story? All my California readers, start watching the streets, the program is at Stanford University. We need proof! You know you love me, XOXO Gossip Girl*

*They say liars never prosper, will Queen N's lies catch up with her soon enough? Or will she swear it to her deathbed? We're going to play a game, first one to find the Queen wins! You know you love me, XOXO Gossip Girl*

After dinner, Nicole was brought to the Athena Cabin, where everyone formally introduced themselves to her. She also found out that their actual Cabin Counselor, Annabeth Chase, was on a quest with several other campers. The way they spoke about it, it was as if something very serious had happened to her and some boy named Percy Jackson. She felt too uncomfortable asking what, but could tell it wasn't to be taken lightly. The temporary counselor was a boy named Malcolm, he seemed nice, so Nicole felt she was in good hands.  
She'd changed into her blue, silk pajamas and crawled under the covers of her bunk. Nicole was very exhausted, so she politely said good night to everyone and turned her body. Then she slipped her phone out, making sure it was hidden, and slid through the Gossip Girl blast's. It looked like Gossip Girl wasn't going to rest until she knew what Nicole was up to, and why she'd lied about going to that summer program. With that in mind, Nicole fell into a restless sleep.  
Nicole was walking down a dirt path in disgust, it was the forest she had been at during the party. The cuffs of her silk pajamas were being covered in the dirt from the ground, which was distracting her. Next thing she knew she had walked directly to a woman, Nicole couldn't tell if the woman had just appeared or if she hadn't noticed her. The woman had long black hair and was turned, looking at a sunrise in the distance of the trees.  
"Hello Nicole," the woman turned to reveal stormy gray eyes and Nicole's eyes widened in realization.  
"You're Athena," she said accusingly, by mistake of course, but Athena looked at Nicole sternly.  
"Yes," she replied softly. Nicole didn't know if she should bow or hug her, so she took another step towards her slowly.  
"Hi," she said weakly.  
"I have come to tell you something, something important. There will be a prophecy the Oracle will issue, and it will be vital on whether or not you are on that quest. You are a key part of Camp Half Blood's safety. Be ready, because there is more than just your life at stake and you are not the only one risking something," as Athena finished this last sentence her eyes were in the distance, as if deep in thought. Her face showed a sort of weakness I didn't understand. Then, she disappeared.  
"No! Wait, I don't understand? Why me?"  
Nicole woke, sitting straight up. She looked to the her siblings to see all of them turned to her in worry. She took a breath and smiled at them, crawling from bed. They all seemed to be in the middle of getting ready.  
"You alright?" Malcolm asked.  
"Yeah... Fine, thanks."  
*********  
The days went by quickly, after breakfast on her second day, the Athena Cabin did their assigned chores and then went to sword training. Nicole found that she was actually quite handy with a sword surprisingly. After lunch she found she shouldn't be trusted with a bow and arrows during target practice. Nicole was actually enjoying all the different assortment of activities at camp. She was almost at the top of the climbing wall, and had only been burned a few times!  
Finally came Friday, Nicole had heard all about Capture the Flag, it was all the rave at camp. She was actually kind of excited about it, which was really puzzling to her. She was also pretty confident with her fighting from comments of her instructors, she knew she was good at hand-to-hand combat and a particularly quick thinker and strategist.  
All the classes and activities of the day were done, so she had some leisure time on her hands. Nicole had become especially close with her siblings in the Athena Cabin, a few Aphrodite and Dionysus campers and a few others. She was wondering what to do when she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. Sitting on the big house porch, she was careful to keep her phone concealed as she brought it out of her pocket. It was just another Gossip Girl blast, luckily not about her though.  
"Who's that from?" she turned to see a girl from the Aphrodite Cabin, her name was Drew Tanaka and she wasn't one of Nicole's particularly favourite campers. From camp gossip, Drew used to be Aphrodite leader, but was a dictator so she was over thrown by a girl named Piper, who was on the quest. Drew moved closer to read over her shoulder, scanning the phone with her eyes.  
"Um, just a friend," Gossip Girl was definitely not her friend.  
"Gossip Girl.. Wait a minute, no way!" Drew was now staring accusingly at Nicole, "I knew it, I knew your name! Your Nicole Theikos, New York social-lite.." Nicole wasn't sure where Drew was from, but it didn't really matter, Gossip Girl was everywhere you went. Somehow her two lives where all of the sudden one, and that was not something she wanted.  
"Yes, that is who I am," nothing but the truth, there was no way to deny this.  
"Is Zachary Archibald as hot as his pictures? You two have a thing, right?" Drew wasn't one to idolize people, but that was exactly what she was doing.  
"I don't know, and had a thing," she paused after saying had.  
"You broke up? Oh my gods, I don't have a phone because we're not allowed and I barely get on the computer so I had no idea you even left the city!" Drew rambled on. Nicole was really regretting having said anything, she just sighed as Drew continued to ask about the life of a social-lite.  
"Drew, i've got to go meet up with somebody, we can talk about this later, okay?" Nicole tried to get out before she could continue talking. She jumped from the porch, walking away as quickly as was natural looking. All she needed was Drew telling everyone about her mortal life, she didn't need everyone getting worried about Gossip Girl finding the camp. The only problem was, it was very likely that Gossip Girl would be able to find the camp. And if you can't already tell, Gossip Girl doesn't really keep secrets. Except her own of course.  
*********  
Nicole was standing on Fireworks Beach, feet deep in the sand as her eyes scanned the waters. She'd always been comforted by water, it cleared her mind like nothing else. Her thoughts couldn't help but coming back to the message Athena had sent her in her sleep. What she really needed was someone who could tell her all about this important quest that set of demi-gods was on right now, but she wasn't sure anyone would tell her.  
All of the sudden she could hear angry voices from behind her, it seemed like two people were in some sort of intense argument. Nicole turned herself around, looking for the commotion. She spotted a boy she recognized to be from Ares and Drew from the Aphrodite cabin. The Ares kid seemed to be yelling at her about hiding someones power because she was afraid another person might be better than her. Nicole heard the name Slate, and stretched her ears to hear more, but that fight was done when Drew stormed away.  
The boy from Ares came trundling onto the sand, Nicole could tell he was very angry, but she had a feeling he might be just the person to tell her what no one else would. She advanced, coming a few steps away, waiting for him to see her. When he spotted her, his face turned into an embarrassed frown, obviously he hadn't noticed her when he was yelling.  
"Hey, my name's Nicole," she said to break the awkward silence.  
"I know who you are," he mumbled, "I'm Fabian Prince." Fabian looked a little surprised that she'd started a conversation with him, after all once a social-lite, always a social-lite. Nicole wasn't sure how to ask about the quest, but she had to give it a go.  
"I was wondering if you could tell me about the quest that Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson are on right now?" she said all of this pretty quickly, "Its alright if you aren't comfortable doing that or whatever."  
"I'll tell you, its okay," Fabian said. Nicole moved to sit down in the sand, and he did the same.  
He explained to Nicole that Percy Jackson was a son of Poseidon, who was sort of the camp hero, and he'd been missing for months. Annabeth Chase was his girlfriend, but before that she'd been the one who always went on quest's with Percy. They'd found Percy at a Roman Camp that only Chiron had known about, which had demi-gods whose parents were our regular Gods, but their Roman counterparts. They'd gone on a quest with a son of Jupiter, daughter of Pluto, son of Mars, daughter of Aphrodite and son of Hephaestus to Greece to prevent Gaea from rising and destroying the world. Along the way, Percy and Annabeth had a terrible accident in which they literally fell into Tartarus, where they were as he told this very story. The worst part was, that Roman camp was under the impression that this Greek camp was trying to destroy them. They were somewhere in New York City, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, and send this camp down in flames.  
Nicole finally understood why no one had wanted to tell her about this, it was such a terrible fate for Percy and Annabeth. As well as for the camp, and the world if the others didn't succeed. The worst part was, Athena seemed to be under the impression that Nicole would be a big part in saving the camp. Her mind wouldn't leave the dream, it fit to what Fabian had told her like a perfect puzzle.  
"What were you fighting with Drew about?" Nicole was afraid she may have over stepped her boundaries. She could see his green eyes through a cover of brown hair, looking through his hair to the sound.  
"It was about a boy from Aphrodite, Slate. He.. Well, did you know that kids from Aphrodite can have a special power? Its called charmspeaking, where they can control you with their words. Drew and Piper have this power, but I think Slate does as well. Drew seems to be pushing his power back so he doesn't really know he has it, Drew is more powerful than him because she's been practicing longer."  
"Oh.. That's awful, are you sure Slate can charmspeak?"  
"Well, one thing is for sure, Drew is."

All dinner long Nicole had been absorbed in the conversation she'd had with Fabian. She couldn't seem to get the image of her mother out of her eyes, every time she blinked, there she was. It soon came time to enter the woods for Capture the Flag, Nicole had her armor on and her sword in hand. It was Athena, Demeter, Apollo and Aphrodite versus Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes, Dionysus and all the minor God cabins were placed in the red or blue side depending on the need for campers.  
The Athena Cabin had created a strategy, which involved Nicole waiting by the stream, surrounded by a few Aphrodite girls. They were instructed to look like they weren't going to be fighting, discussing nail polish, which wasn't hard for most of the Aphrodite girls.  
"Wait, I hear something. Get ready girls," Lacey, one of the younger Aphrodite campers, said. All the girls began to giggle and talk, drawing attention to ourselves so that our team could pass the creek without anyone noticing. Just as they'd suspected, a large group had been coming this way, and they soon spotted Nicole and the other girls. A few of them started to walk past, but someone said not to underestimate them.  
Nicole had her sword swinging by her side like she didn't even realize it was sharp. She smiled at them in a i'm-too-innocent way, and the other girls followed her lead. She could hear them mumbling to each other about what to do now, soon they spread out a bit and started to pass, swords ready. Nicole barely moved, but her sword was ready. The group of girls scattered, weapons keeping the other team distracted from the real threat.  
A few people approached Nicole to fight, thinking she was the only non-Aphrodite one and might actually know how to fight. She did.. The first person tried whipping her sword from her grip, but she dodged the attack. Nicole hit the tip of her sword onto the bottom of one attackers and it flew through the air, dropping quite a while a way. She was dodging, hitting the butt of her sword to their helmets and flipping more weapons out of peoples hands, which she had grown fond of doing because it distracted all threats.  
Looking around the clearing in the trees, she could tell the other team was tiring and become fewer. Nicole couldn't see anyone to attack, so she ran towards the other side to see if that part of the plan was working out. She used her momentum to jump across the river, landing swiftly on the other side, she continued to move quickly through the forest.

Nicole passed several people on the other team, but she was able to take them down long enough to pass. Finally, she came up to the other team's flag, where many of her siblings were fighting. The flag rested, nudged in between two different rocks, and no one was guarding it. She saw, surprisingly enough, Slate reaching it. She jumped from her spot, as everyone ran for him, parrying attacks left and right. When she saw him reaching the creek, she knew they had won. It felt awesome to actually earn this feeling, opposed to just being handed it. And just when she was starting to like her new life better then her last.


End file.
